I am a list maker…even in retirement from my secular work. For me, what doesn’t get listed, doesn’t get done. It is also very rewarding for me to check that item off the list when it is accomplished. The list has a progression of priorities. One task cannot happen until another task is completed. And so life goes with my lists guiding my behavior and productivity.
As I journal each morning in my conversational prayer with God, the Father, His Spirit guides me to make another list that helps me to mature and grow in Him. I am convicted of some of those “fruits of the Spirit” that I have not tended to or cultivated, have ignored or left undone. His Holy Spirit redirects my thoughts and helps me form a list of tasks that will help me improve my behavior. “Keep a close check on yourself”, writes Paul to Timothy. For me, that means to make a spiritual checklist that keeps me in close contact with the will and purpose of our Father, God and helps me to grow closer to Him.
We can do nothing of significance without God. I am convinced that He guides us to all things that are good for our growth and aid our learning about Him and how He works. Paul also gives Timothy sound advice about how to treat those whom God has called to lead with character traits with another list of how to lead. This list still applies to us today. The theme of this episode seems to be; Know God, Know Yourself, Know The Message, Know Your Audience. Our deeds, good and bad, will be evident. Be driven by God’s love in us.
1 Timothy 5, The Message
17-18 Give a bonus to leaders who do a good job, especially the ones who work hard at preaching and teaching. Scripture tells us, “Don’t muzzle a working ox” and “A worker deserves his pay.”
19 Don’t listen to a complaint against a leader that isn’t backed up by two or three responsible witnesses.
20 If anyone falls into sin, call that person on the carpet. Those who are inclined that way will know right off they can’t get by with it.
21-23 God and Jesus and angels all back me up in these instructions. Carry them out without favoritism, without taking sides. Don’t appoint people to church leadership positions too hastily. If a person is involved in some serious sins, you don’t want to become an unwitting accomplice. In any event, keep a close check on yourself. And don’t worry too much about what the critics will say. Go ahead and drink a little wine, for instance; it’s good for your digestion, good medicine for what ails you.
24-25 The sins of some people are blatant and march them right into court. The sins of others don’t show up until much later. The same with good deeds. Some you see right off, but none are hidden forever.
LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE #6: Keep a Close Check on Yourself
Leadership Characteristics –
–Fully rely on God. Trust Him with all you are and all you have. We are His. All we have is His.
–Ask God “if there is anything offensive to you, cleanse me.” as the Psalmist prayed.
–Repent with a heart and mind not wanting to return to the old life.
–Look full into the face of Jesus, our Master, Lord and Savior with laser focus so we know what direction to take next.
–“Keep a close check on yourself.” Avoid, “he did it, I can, too” or “my sin is not as bad as his sin” or “everybody’s doing it” mentality.
–Ask God for wisdom, insight and understanding.
–Allow God’s transformation to continue in our lives.
–Ask God to make your lists of to BE and to DO. HE will prioritize your lists in ways you cannot imagine! Where He guides, He provides help all along the journey.
–Do all in a Spirit of love for God and others.
–Care enough to confront others with God’s love and concern for their spiritual well-being and growth.
WarningThe things on our spiritual check list can never be crossed off because we’ll be working on them our whole lives. By listing we are reminding ourselves of what we need to work on to “keep a close check” on our lives. It is only by The Atonement of Jesus Christ can we accomplish anything of eternal significance.
Dear Heavenly Father, You have convinced me that we must do spiritual “business” with You each day to improve our being in You. Thank you for helping us on this journey. Thank you for Your Holy Spirit that points out things in our behavior that could cause us to crash…before crashing. Thank you for always being with us, guiding and directing, loving and protecting and challenging us to grow and bear Fruit. Continue to transform me. Transform your church. Transform the world through your church. In Jesus Name, Amen
The short commandment, “Do not commit adultery,” of the Ten Commandments delivered through Moses to God’s people, assumes that every marriage is vitally important and just as worth protecting as a human life. But why is a marriage covenant so important in the Bible? The biblical authors consider marriage to be a great mystery that points to something beyond our world to higher heavenly Kingdom; God’s faithful commitment to humanity, “made in His own image”. God loves his created and desires His best for each one. God is Love. His love is the foundation for a marriage between a male and a female created by Him and created to last a lifetime!
Solomon, who is looking out over the populus of his earthly kingdom, does not fail to notice how easily a prostitute seduces a young man. This is his continued advice to his son. Since he is going over this topic again, could it be that Solomon, also seduced by the beauty of a women for he had many wives, might be feely some guilt? We don’t know. But we do know that when he was seduced, he just brought the woman into his harem, probably as a way to cover this sin and his guilt. God was not pleased by this because he did not obey the commandment meant to protect the life of a marriage between one man and one woman meant to last a lifetime! Maybe this is why the wisdom for his son uses such strong, specific language for he knows he fell for this sin. We’ve heard parents say, “don’t do as I do; but do I say”, but this is not the wisdom of God.
Proverbs 7, The Message
Dressed to Seduce
1-5 Dear friend, do what I tell you; treasure my careful instructions. Do what I say and you’ll live well. My teaching is as precious as your eyesight—guard it! Write it out on the back of your hands; etch it on the chambers of your heart. Talk to Wisdom as to a sister. Treat Insight as your companion. They’ll be with you to fend off the Temptress— that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.
6-12 As I stood at the window of my house looking out through the shutters, Watching the mindless crowd stroll by, I spotted a young man without any sense Arriving at the corner of the street where she lived, then turning up the path to her house. It was dusk, the evening coming on, the darkness thickening into night. Just then, a woman met him— she’d been lying in wait for him, dressed to seduce him. Brazen and brash she was, restless and roaming, never at home, Walking the streets, loitering in the mall, hanging out at every corner in town.
13-20 She threw her arms around him and kissed him, boldly took his arm and said, “I’ve got all the makings for a feast— today I made my offerings, my vows are all paid, So now I’ve come to find you, hoping to catch sight of your face—and here you are! I’ve spread fresh, clean sheets on my bed, colorful imported linens. My bed is aromatic with spices and exotic fragrances. Come, let’s make love all night, spend the night in ecstatic lovemaking! My husband’s not home; he’s away on business, and he won’t be back for a month.”
21-23Soon she has him eating out of her hand, bewitched by her honeyed speech. Before you know it, he’s trotting behind her, like a calf led to the butcher shop, Like a stag lured into ambush and then shot with an arrow, Like a bird flying into a net not knowing that its flying life is over.
24-27So, friends, listen to me, take these words of mine most seriously. Don’t fool around with a woman like that; don’t even stroll through her neighborhood. Countless victims come under her spell; she’s the death of many a poor man. She runs a halfway house to hell, fits you out with a shroud and a coffin.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17
Our lives are extremely precious, valuable, and important to God—so much so that He sent His One and Only Son to die for our sin debt so we could be redeemed and set free from all the penalties and punishments owed for our sins. He didn’t wait until humans cleaned up their act before acting on our behalf. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
Our response to God who sent Jesus to seek and to save the lost who were without God is this: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (KJV / ESV) 1 John 1:9 This cleansing means ALL things not of God!
In a world of people, looking for loopholes, some will ask, “so knowing God will forgive us when we repent in Jesus Name, does this allow us to keep on sinning?” No, God’s grace is not a license to keep sinning. When the gift of a new and improved life has been given to us why would we look back and follow the old “way we were” as if the old would make us better? Dead is dead and gone forever. Life is Jesus is eternal and begins the moment we say yes to Him!
Paul explains; “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:1-4
This means we are not removed entirely from sin’s influence but set free from its absolute power. This freedom comes through union with Christ, who overcame death! In fact, our baptism symbolizes this death, burial and resurrection.
Consider this truth—
Upon the physical death of Lazareth, Jesus spoke truth with Life to Lazareth’s grieving sister Martha and said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26 (Read the whole story for clarity of the worth of a soul to God/Jesus/Holy Spirit!)
This proverb wisdom given to young men applies to all today. We all are tempted and seduced by something or someone with promising us what we do not have but now want only because of our fleshly desires for more. Satan preys on this selfish thinking by coaxing, “You can have it all, I cleaned it up for you so it looks nice, so what looks sinful isn’t really because I blessed it as doable and deserving”. (Yikes!)
Maybe the greatest line by the seductress to the tempted is, “Come, let’s make love all night, spend the night in ecstatic lovemaking!”Followed by,“My husband’s not home.”
From his window, the father watches a foolish young man who “had no sense”, walking to a street he knows he should not be in the dark of night. He was hoping no one would see him. We learn that the seducer offers three enticements: The sacrifices offer the delicacy of meat; the bed offers the pleasures of love); the husband not at home promises a sense of security. Her meal came from a sacrifice, so she perversely turned an act of worship into an occasion for sexual sin. Her persuasive words and false teaching lead the young man astray to his death.
How many times must God, our Father, watch from his window to earth and shake his head in sadness at our foolishness?
All sin birthed from yielding to a temptation to sin with only human efforts to overcome sin, leads to death. But there is a Way back to Truth who gives Life! God created His Plan of Salvation for us because of the Love He still has for each one of us! Jesus is the Plan!
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”—Jesus, John 14:6
Consider the love and compassion of God—
When Jesus walked the earth to seek and to save the lost, a woman was brought to him who was caught in adultery, brought out into the streets, and thrown down at the feet of Jesus. This act was accomplished by seducers of religious power who had lost all sense of who God is while creating manmade rules that oppressed God’s people who were already oppressed by the Roman government. Here is God’s Story with His Son’s response;
“As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
They were trying to trap himinto saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
“No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” John 11:3-11
Wrapping this proverb of wisdom up, it seems our response is to answer Jesus’ first question to Martha, “Do you believe this?” If yes, then embrace Jesus as he whispers in our ear, “Go, and sin no more.” Then ask God for wisdom, insight and understanding while allowing Him to mold and shape our new lives that will bear His characteristics! This is Life!
God has given us power as believers in Jesus to overcome temptations. Just ask Him; He will deliver as promised.
Lord,
Thank you for all the wisdom you have given to us through your Word today. Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls with your mercy, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within us. Thank you for the peace you give in knowing you are Savior and Lord. I believe. And I’m listening for you.
“Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:7-10, ESV
As a young adult, with three small children, whose husband was working the night shift at a factory so he could finish his college decree in the daytime; we lived on the edge financially. When unexpected funds came in; the temptation was there to buy something we did not need but wanted; but the wisdom of God’s Word would leap off the page in these times and was seared to our hearts; “do whatever it takes to pay what you owe first”. When we did not follow this wisdom, the folly of debt overwhelmed us and changed all our relationships until the debts were paid in full.
When we borrow from anyone; it changes us from the inside out and can transform our relationships. For example, the first time we borrowed from a store; I felt like I could no longer shop there until the debt for our washer and dryer was paid in full. Shopping there was no longer enjoyable! Relationship shift. When we borrowed a tool from our friends or neighbors to complete a task; we felt obligated to honor the lender with cleaning the tool before giving it back to them. Relationship shift. We borrowed from my grandma on occasion in those lean years when the end of the paycheck arrived before the end of the month. Relationship shift—not on her part by on ours. I was so anxious to pay her back that I would write a check to her for the amount borrowed with the date to cash when our paycheck hit our bank later that week. She always said, “this is not necessary”; but it was to me for I revered and respect her highly—because of our relationship.
When we are urged to “pay what we owe first”; and we do it, God who knows, cares, loves, and provides, and He is honored because we honored our lender in paying the debt in full. God teaches this wisdom because he knows how much our love for each other in relationship is important in growing in our intimate relationship with Him!
Proverbs 6, The Message
Like a Deer from the Hunter
6 1-5 Dear friend, if you’ve gone into hock with your neighbor or locked yourself into a deal with a stranger, If you’ve impulsively promised the shirt off your back and now find yourself shivering out in the cold, Friend, don’t waste a minute, get yourself out of that mess. You’re in that man’s clutches! Go, put on a long face; act desperate. Don’t procrastinate— there’s no time to lose. Run like a deer from the hunter, fly like a bird from the trapper!
A Lesson from the Ant
6-11 You lazy fool, look at an ant. Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two. Nobody has to tell it what to do. All summer it stores up food; at harvest it stockpiles provisions. So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing? How long before you get out of bed? A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next? Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, poverty your permanent houseguest!
Always Cooking Up Something Nasty
12-15 Swindlers and scoundrels talk out of both sides of their mouths. They wink at each other, they shuffle their feet, they cross their fingers behind their backs. Their perverse minds are always cooking up something nasty, always stirring up trouble. Catastrophe is just around the corner for them, a total wreck, their lives ruined beyond repair.
Seven Things God Hates
16-19 Here are six things God hates, and one more that he loathes with a passion:
eyes that are arrogant, a tongue that lies, hands that murder the innocent, a heart that hatches evil plots, feet that race down a wicked track, a mouth that lies under oath, a troublemaker in the family.
Warning on Adultery
20-23 Good friend, follow your father’s good advice; don’t wander off from your mother’s teachings. Wrap yourself in them from head to foot; wear them like a scarf around your neck. Wherever you walk, they’ll guide you; whenever you rest, they’ll guard you; when you wake up, they’ll tell you what’s next. For sound advice is a beacon, good teaching is a light, moral discipline is a life path.
24-35 They’ll protect you from promiscuous women, from the seductive talk of some temptress. Don’t lustfully fantasize on her beauty, nor be taken in by her bedroom eyes. You can buy an hour with a prostitute for a loaf of bread, but a promiscuous woman may well eat you alive. Can you build a fire in your lap and not burn your pants? Can you walk barefoot on hot coals and not get blisters? It’s the same when you have sex with your neighbor’s wife: Touch her and you’ll pay for it. No excuses. Hunger is no excuse for a thief to steal; When he’s caught he has to pay it back, even if he has to put his whole house in hock. Adultery is a brainless act, soul-destroying, self-destructive; Expect a bloody nose, a black eye, and a reputation ruined for good. For jealousy detonates rage in a cheated husband; wild for revenge, he won’t make allowances. Nothing you say or pay will make it all right; neither bribes nor reason will satisfy him.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
Notice how the wisdom of Proverbs provide a backdrop, a background, the detailed illustrations and outlines of HOW to obey the Ten Commandments with WHAT happens when we do not trust and obey God!
Later, after Jesus paid what we owed for our sins in full; the Apostle Paul who was transformed by Jesus on the road to Damacus and then became a powerful, God’s Holy Spirit led leader and church planter explains to the Roman oppressed world, “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:7-10, ESV
Paying what we owe might not change the lender; but it transforms us!
Paul’s practical teaching from Romans 12 of giving on oneself as an offering God daily to seek His pleasing and perfect will for us, not turns his attention to government authorities with how to relate to them. Believers are called to recognize that they “stand under” government in the design God has instituted to rule the world. Paul describes secular rulers as they should function, not as they always do function. When civil rulers overstep their proper function, the Christian is to obey God rather than human authorities.
Paul’s higher and greater point to be made is God’s love and relationship. “Love is the one debt that is never paid off. Genuine lovefor others inevitably leads us to obey all the other commandments that demonstrate our love for God and each other in relationship.
The parental instruction in our Proverb of the day deals primarily with morally inferior types of people in specific situations. The chapter warns against four dangers: risky loan guarantees, laziness, troublemaking, and adultery—all relationally driven. For instant, guaranteeing someone else’s debt can end in abject poverty or even slavery if you cannot pay. We are then given the example of the tiny ant who is unsupervised, driven by uncoerced self-discipline. Without any outside pressure, this tiny creature both stores and gathers provisions to see it through future days when food will be scarce!
Troublemakers, “flies in the ointment” my grandpa used to say, deliberately divides people by using subtle, manipulative actions and words. Theologically, the sevenfold catalog of what the Lord hates revolves around the inner heart showing God cares about motives, not just actions. The father’s wisdom of warning for his son is concerning his relationship with his wife and family. The warning is against adultery contrasts the price of a prostitute (a cheap meal) with the price of the adulterous wife (one’s life).
The main message is simple: Take responsibility for what is yours, and do not take responsibility for what is not. Love God. Love Others. This message is revolutionary!
Whew, this is more than enough wisdom for this day, right? Prayerfully consider the wisdom words as illustrations of the Ten Commandments given to God’s people who had been told as slaves to the Egyptians what to think and what to do for ages. They needed guidelines to walk with God again.
Come think of it, we all need these guidelines of wisdom that remind us how much God loves us and what He did to pay our debt and set us free to walk with Him in a holy relationship of love that is like no other in this world.
Lord,
Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving us life then teaching us to live Life to the full with you in relationship. Thank you for Your love that grows in us so we can love each other the way you love us—without conditions.
Because of his great love for his son; The father cares enough to teach him the common-sense skills for living life that will help him avoid troubles and traps. The father warns the son about the high cost of immorality of sexual sins along with the foolishness of falling for a seductress. In this proverb, “death” is defined as loss of strength, years, substance, and reputation, the reverse of wisdom’s benefits of long life, riches, and honor.
As we read, we must realize that adultery of the flesh is not the only way to fall for the blatant sins of our own culture who advertises consistently to “have it your way”. Pornography, in all forms, has been on a rapid rise to draw all people into a trap of addictive behaviors, as addictive as non-prescriptive drugs. These addictive sins are meant to dull the senses and cause users to betray who they are, along with betraying their spouses and family. Hiding it, does not get rid of it. Rationalizing it, as we are so “gifted” in doing these days, does not make it right or acceptable to God, our Father who loves us and wants His best for us. God has a better way out.
In contrast, the father of Proverbs wants his son to know how highly blessed he is with a wife to call his own. The two are blessed by God, to be one together in the only love triangle that is acceptable to God: Husband, Wife, God. The son is reminded after marriage to seek only his own wife be his source of pleasure, as water refreshes a thirsty person, because sexual intimacy is a treasure meant for marriagealone. This is how the two become one. God blesses this relationship as holy to Him!
The words, “the two shall become one flesh” first appears in Genesis and said by God, our Father. It is a foundational biblical teaching on marriage that all believers who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ understand as God’s way of life to the full. This teaching is also found in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Here are a few references—
Genesis 2:24: The phrase first appears describing the creation of the first marriage, stating that a man leaves his parents to hold fast to his wife, and they become “one flesh”.
New Testament Teachings: Jesus quotes this passage in Matthew 19:5 and Mark 10:8 to emphasize the permanence of marriage and that humans should not separate what God has joined.
Ephesians 5:31: The Apostle Paul repeats the phrase, connecting human marriage to the spiritual mystery of Christ’s unity with the Church.
Proverbs 5 closes by grounding the teaching in the Lord’s omniscience and his justice; even adultery done and kept in secret is fully exposed to a God who judges righteously. Though addressed to a son, the implication is that young women should also avoid men of similar character for both men and women can easily fall to sin. God knows our sins and the hold sin has over us. God made a way for the fallen to be saved, healed, and restored. The Way to God, the Truth of God, is embodied in His Son, Jesus who is Life for all who believe in Him. (John 3:16-17)
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8
Our Father in heaven forgives.Our God is faithful to us even when we are not faithful to Him, allowing our addictions to steal our attention from Him. There is no one like our Father, God! God made a Way for us to be saved through Jesus Christ, His One and Only Son! This is REAL LOVE, the Love our hearts crave and desire. So, stop looking for fake love in all the wrong places that will not satisfy our God-created longings for love. God is love. Only God can satisfy our hearts who seek real love.
Whatever the addiction that keeps you enslaved —God stands ready to help with His rescue; for there is nothing God won’t forgive. Come to Him by believing in Jesus. Receive the power equal to resurrecting life from death and have a complete victory over sin.
Proverbs 5, The Message
1-2Dear friend, pay close attention to this, my wisdom; listen very closely to the way I see it. Then you’ll acquire a taste for good sense; what I tell you will keep you out of trouble.
3-6 The lips of a seductive woman are oh so sweet, her soft words are oh so smooth. But it won’t be long before she’s gravel in your mouth, a pain in your gut, a wound in your heart. She’s dancing down the perfumed path to Death; she’s headed straight for Hell and taking you with her. She hasn’t a clue about Real Life, about who she is or where she’s going.
7-14 So, my friend, listen closely; don’t treat my words casually. Keep your distance from such a woman; absolutely stay out of her neighborhood. You don’t want to squander your wonderful life, to waste your precious life among the hardhearted. Why should you allow strangers to take advantage of you? Why be exploited by those who care nothing for you? You don’t want to end your life full of regrets, nothing but sin and bones, Saying, “Oh, why didn’t I do what they told me? Why did I reject a disciplined life? Why didn’t I listen to my mentors, or take my teachers seriously? My life is ruined! I haven’t one blessed thing to show for my life!”
Never Take Love for Granted
15-16 Do you know the saying, “Drink from your own rain barrel, draw water from your own spring-fed well”? It’s true. Otherwise, you may one day come home and find your barrel empty and your well polluted.
17-20Your spring water is for you and you only, not to be passed around among strangers. Bless your fresh-flowing fountain! Enjoy the wife you married as a young man! Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose— don’t ever quit taking delight in her body. Never take her love for granted! Why would you trade enduring intimacies for cheap thrills with a prostitute? for dalliance with a promiscuous stranger?
21-23 Mark well that God doesn’t miss a move you make; he’s aware of every step you take. The shadow of your sin will overtake you; you’ll find yourself stumbling all over yourself in the dark. Death is the reward of an undisciplined life; your foolish decisions trap you in a dead end.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
Solomon warned his son of the sin of foolishness and sexual sin. He urged him to remember what he was taught and to avoid the temptation of having sex outside of marriage. He also encouraged him against things the Lord hates which we will read and study tomorrow! Oh, we’re just getting started in our proverb a day exercises!
Prayerfully meditate on this proverb today. Then consider praying the words David who “ran after the heart of God” as a shepherd boy who became king; “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139;23-24
Sometimes our negative, untrue, assumptions and presumptions thought life about ourselves and others becomes so addictive we no longer hear God speak! (See Philippians 4:8 for “whatever” thinking that is healthy and holy!)
Sometimes our addictive habits of hurry can draw our attention from God’s Word.(Can we confess, all have sinned on this one, too?)
There are many ways the enemy uses to distract and deceive us in ways to deconstruct and destroy our faith in God.
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”—Paul, Romans 12:1-2, MSG
Lord,
Cleanse my heart, renew my mind, refresh my soul with your tender, daily mercies. Restore the joy of your salvation at work within me. You in me and me in You.
The dramas of life written by prolific writers and portrayed by great actors in media and movies have the same theme—Choices. The storyline begins with the good life of the main character who is surrounded by actors supporting the main character. The number of actors depends on the budget for the film more than the story at times. But one thing is for sure; all stories rise and fall upon the choices made between what will bring life or cause certain death.
Many lighter to dark scenarios with decisions to make along the way to follow good or evil will build the storyline to its greatest problem to solve. Wisdom, integrity, and knowledge are what is needed to make the decision that is best for all. Some follow wisdom, but not until the drama builds in tension with elements of surprise! The supporting characters will either rise or fall with the main character depending upon how their role will help to solve or add to the problem. Either way, the choice has to be made or the story cannot go forward. The choice will come at a cost, for the life of the main character is at stake! Will evil or good win? It depends of the creator of the story.
Since the days of Adam and Eve’s fall to evil, mankind has been plagued with fighting the battle between good and evil. Many stories have played out over history and is written to show us the power, authority, and character of God. But the decisions to follow Him are ours to make. To God, we are either for God or against Him. There is no middle ground to stand on.
Choices must be made by each individual to choose life or death. If we choose life with God, our belief and behaviors will hardly ever be popular with the people around us who make different choices. Our decision to follow God no matter what and lean into His wisdom, seeking His insight and understanding, might even temporarily affect what others see as prosperity on earth. But we who believe and follow know better. With God, through Jesus, we have everything we need and more. We know how God’s story ends with complete victory over evil; for He has revealed it to John so that the world may know.
When we make decisions without the wisdom of God who has a better plan for each one of us; we fall more easily to evil. We become easy prey for the lion of evil who prowls around waiting to take us down and hold us as slaves to our sins. But God…But with God, who is the Source of Life, has a better plan to bring us out of trouble and change our storyline forever! The Plan was, is, and always will be His Son, Jesus—our Savior and Lord.
Centuries ago, when most of God’s people stopped listening, God stopped talking to them. When God’s people believed they could do life without Him; He allowed them to try. A stronger, evil, barbaric nation overcame them and took them to Babylon as captives where they were slaves for seventy years. When the people finally began to call out to God while remembering the words of His prophets who warned them—this is what our God, full of compassion and always faithful, said through Jeremiah, His prophet who didn’t give up on God;
“This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You willseek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.” Jeremiah 29:10-14
God is Wisdom. True Wisdom begins and ends with God, the Source of Life.
Proverbs 4, The Message
Your Life Is at Stake
4 1-2Listen, friends, to some fatherly advice; sit up and take notice so you’ll know how to live. I’m giving you good counsel; don’t let it go in one ear and out the other.
3-9 When I was a boy at my father’s knee, the pride and joy of my mother, He would sit me down and drill me: “Take this to heart.Do what I tell you—live! Sell everything and buy Wisdom! Forage for Understanding! Don’t forget one word! Don’t deviate an inch! Never walk away from Wisdom—she guards your life; love her—she keeps her eye on you. Above all and before all, do this: Get Wisdom! Write this at the top of your list: Get Understanding! Throw your arms around her—believe me, you won’t regret it; never let her go—she’ll make your life glorious. She’ll garland your life with grace, she’ll festoon your days with beauty.”
10-15 Dear friend, take my advice; it will add years to your life. I’m writing out clear directions to Wisdom Way, I’m drawing a map to Righteous Road. I don’t want you ending up in blind alleys, or wasting time making wrong turns. Hold tight to good advice; don’t relax your grip. Guard it well—your life is at stake! Don’t take Wicked Bypass; don’t so much as set foot on that road. Stay clear of it; give it a wide berth. Make a detour and be on your way.
16-17Evil people are restless unless they’re making trouble; They can’t get a good night’s sleep unless they’ve made life miserable for somebody. Perversity is their food and drink, violence their drug of choice.
18-19The ways of right-living people glow with light; the longer they live, the brighter they shine. But the road of wrongdoing gets darker and darker— travelers can’t see a thing; they fall flat on their faces.
Learn It by Heart
20-22 Dear friend, listen well to my words; tune your ears to my voice. Keep my message in plain view at all times. Concentrate! Learn it by heart! Those who discover these words live, really live; body and soul, they’re bursting with health.
23-27 Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts. Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip. Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you. Look neither right nor left; leave evil in the dust.
Choose Life. Guard your heart. Prayerfully consider each decision made today. Seek God and His wisdom as if your life depended on it—because it does!
Lord,
Thank you for your wisdom written in forms we can begin to understand. The depths of your insight from your perspective are needed in our world of confusion issues of the day where both sides of the debate seem foolish and without merit or truth. Guide us, Lord. Teach us Truth. Your love and light shine brightly for the world to see you in us. Oh Lord, I cry out for your wisdom again today. Thank you for listening with your perfect, pleasing and perfect will for me as you do for others who decide to follow you.
It is actually pretty easy to throw a loud and obnoxious know it all off track and cause them to be still for a minute in debating life when you ask how they came to all. But let us turn inward as “All have sinned” in this area while growing and maturing in our faith and life. All have sinned on those certain days when we think we can do life without God and tell proceed to tell others how we do life like us! All have sinned in foolishly thinking that we know better than God about living our lives to the full. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God to live life well when we lean on our own understanding of life and how life works instead of leaning, trusting, asking, listening for God—the Creator of Life and the Savior of our Souls. Trust God, only He knows what lies ahead and is already at work on our behalf to use life to teach us to be more like Him who created us “in His own image”.
Proverbs 3, The Message
Don’t Assume You Know It All
1-2 Good friend, don’t forget all I’ve taught you; take to heart my commands. They’ll help you live a long, long time, a long life lived full and well.
3-4Don’t lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people.
5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over. But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this.
The Very Tree of Life
13-18You’re blessed when you meet Lady Wisdom, when you make friends with Madame Insight. She’s worth far more than money in the bank; her friendship is better than a big salary. Her value exceeds all the trappings of wealth; nothing you could wish for holds a candle to her. With one hand she gives long life, with the other she confers recognition. Her manner is beautiful, her life wonderfully complete. She’s the very Tree of Life to those who embrace her. Hold her tight—and be blessed!
19-20 With Lady Wisdom, God formed Earth; with Madame Insight, he raised Heaven. They knew when to signal rivers and springs to the surface, and dew to descend from the night skies.
Never Walk Away
21-26 Dear friend, guard Clear Thinking and Common Sense with your life; don’t for a minute lose sight of them. They’ll keep your soul alive and well, they’ll keep you fit and attractive. You’ll travel safely, you’ll neither tire nor trip. You’ll take afternoon naps without a worry, you’ll enjoy a good night’s sleep. No need to panic over alarms or surprises, or predictions that doomsday’s just around the corner, Because God will be right there with you; he’ll keep you safe and sound.
27-29Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God’s hand for that person. Don’t tell your neighbor “Maybe some other time” or “Try me tomorrow” when the money’s right there in your pocket. Don’t figure ways of taking advantage of your neighbor when he’s sitting there trusting and unsuspecting.
30-32Don’t walk around with a chip on your shoulder, always spoiling for a fight. Don’t try to be like those who shoulder their way through life. Why be a bully? “Why not?” you say. Because God can’t stand twisted souls. It’s the straightforward who get his respect.
33-35 God’s curse blights the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. He gives proud skeptics a cold shoulder, but if you’re down on your luck, he’s right there to help. Wise living gets rewarded with honor; stupid living gets the booby prize.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
We learned yesterday that true wisdom begins and ends with God. God is wisdom. Today God’s wisdom tell us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (v5-6, NIV)
How do we get on God’s straight path and walk humbly with God? Try this;
Seek God first before our own agenda items bombard our minds. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”—Jesus, telling the crowds who gathered to hear Him speak the words of God, Matthew 6:33. He was referring to the physical needs with reminding us that God will provide.
Give God back what He has given to us—Today! As we rise to see the sun, ask God for wisdom, insight and understanding as we go about this day. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”—James 1:5 I would rather begin and end this day with God’s wisdom rather than my own—how about you?
Submit to God’s wisdom by asking what He wants to do in us for today. Following God’s agenda will be easier than our own! “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”—Jesus, Matthew 11:28-30 (Substitute the work yoke for agenda and see what happens as we pray for understanding God’s leading today!)
Offer all we are to God as a living sacrifice to Him. It is then we will know His good, pleasing and perfect will for us today! “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2, NIV
Rejoice!“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”—Philippians 4:4—in all circumstances writes Paul the Apostle. Rejoicing people who know they are redeemed draw others who are curious about why we are smiling!
Love God; Love Others—the two greatest commandments, Jesus tells us. Proverbs 3 is teaching us that a right relationship with God motivates right dealings with neighbors. Its two commands, “trust God’s wisdom” and “Don’t lose your grip on Love and Loyalty” are close to Jesus ‘command to love God and one’s neighbor (Mt 22:34–40). 1 John 4 explains that if we don’t know God, we don’t know love for love is God, and God is love. Know it all’s only love themselves. “Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil!” (v.7) Live God’s love.
Lord,
I need you every hour of this day. I’m yours. I’m listening. I confess I do not know it all but what I do know I will tell. God was, is and always will be God who sent His Son, Jesus to save us from our sins. God’s Holy Spirit lives in the redeemed to show and tell us the Truth. Just knowing this Truth leads me to you, running to you, for wisdom. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Many years ago, I took a seminary class that required us to read a Proverb a day for the development of our character while renewing our minds. It was much like the old adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” for our physical health; but this discipline became vital to our spiritual health! I especially loved reading the Proverb a day from the Message paraphrase by Eugene Peterson as it was our language for our time and God’s wisdom made perfect sense!
The wisdom words and truth bombs of this book get our attention then cause us to remember what Jesus was taught us about Kingdom of God thinking on the Sermon on the Mount! God thinks and acts higher and greater than we do as His created humans jaded by living in a broken, sinful world. The way God thinks and responds is always counter to what the world thinks of as good and right. “That will do” is not God’s thinking for He teaches us to go beyond what is necessary to help others know Him while declaring His glory! What He says to do as we walk with Him, will always be greater than what is required in the world’s way of thinking and responding. (See Matthew 5-7 as references to living an upside down kingdom way of life.)
However, before Jesus came to demonstrate how God thinks and responds to life, there is Proverbs. This book causes all readers to stop and think about the depth of our own character’s integrity when it comes to living a life with the wisdom of God as our desired discipline of “walking humbly with God”. (Micah 6:8) The words written in Proverbs come through Solomon, son of David, who asked for God’s wisdom to begin to lead the Kingdom of Israel. Oh, if all our leaders would read a proverb a day and take the truth to heart! I wonder if…
In this next chapter, we continue with words that are very personal, like father to son personal. There are many “if you…” statements of truth, with consequences for not following truth. Let us pray, asking for God’s Holy Spirit to lead us as we read, listen, and meditate of how these words will enrich the grow of our own spiritual lives.
Proverbs 2
Moral Benefits of Wisdom
2 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2turning your earto wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— 3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if youlook for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He holdssuccess in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, 8 for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.
9Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. 11 Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
12Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, 13 who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, 14 who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, 15 whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.
16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, 17 who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. 18 Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. 19 None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.
20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; 22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
God is wisdom.God has the power, with desire, to give us His wisdom with power to obey His wisdom—just ask Him! And when we ask, God will not decide like earthly humans to evaluate if we deserve it or have earned it. God gives wisdom to all sincere hearts and minds who ask for wisdom! A hidden gem in the “count it all joy” opening of James, leapt off the page for me years ago;
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5
We can be at our lowest in life but if we ask for God’s wisdom—He gives without finding fault with lectures on how we should have been before we fell without His wisdom to guide us! Coming to God means forgiveness. I don’t know about you, but in our world of guilt-ridden people who abused others with pouring on the guilt; this is THE GOOD NEWS of salvation and redemption with restoration all wrapped up again in this statement of God’s relentless love with His compassionate mercy and unending grace.
“IF ANY OF YOU” lacks wisdom, we can ask God—with no prerequisites required. We merely seek our Father God who desires to help His Created get back on the path to walking humbly with Him! God is the wisdom we seek. God is wisdom. The last help of Proverbs 2 declares all the reasons why to seek God’s wisdom for living—God’s wisdom will save us! Wisdom are skills for living and walking humbly with God on His path of good and right.
Need wisdom? Ask God. We can trust the God who made us and sent His Son to save us!
Lord,
Bless us with your wisdom today and forever! Cleanse our hearts, minds, and souls of all that is not of you and fill us with your wisdom that defines our character as a follower of you. Renew our minds to think more like you and less like the world around us that always drags us down. Refresh and reset our souls with your wisdom as our default setting. Restore unto us the joy of your salvation always at work within us to guide us on the path to walking humbly with you daily.
Just before the curtain falls, the entire orchestra comes to attention of the Conductor who will lead them to play even greater intricate melodies that bring all their abilities to bear in the performance. We know the best is yetto come when we begin to hear the transition being made in the music and tap our toes in response! We see and feel it as the pure melodies are played perfectly and harmoniously. The hairs on our being tingle and our eyes and ears are wide open to see what happens next for we know we coming to the end of a great song. Our minds become fully focused on the Conductor who has led each musician to play at their best, as one instrument, and now leads them all to the grand finale!
The music becomes even more powerful as all the instruments play their parts! We feel the slow rise that leads to a full crescendo of the masterpiece the musicians are conducted to play! We see the smile of pleasure on the Conductor’s face when all musicians play harmoniously with joy on their faces!
These thoughts come to mind as our last psalm is read—the song with only one goal—Let EVERYTHING that has breath praise the Lord! Psalm 150 is the Psalmist final call to praise God with all that is in us but it is purely directed to God! Read how the composer moves powerfully in stages from places to themes to orchestra to choir—all framed with Glorious Hallelujahs! We are going to read it twice; but even that is not enough to praise God for all He has done, is doing and will do in our lives!
There is not enough bandwidth in our world to proclaim all God has done. There is certainly not enough pages to fill of telling of His character along with His Story of Redemption. But this is a place to begin.
Praise God. No matter what is happening right now in our lives, praise God! Wherever you are, praise God. No matter what you’re feeling, praise God! No matter who you are with, praise God! No matter if it is a sunny or cloudy day, praise God! “Yet, will I trust Him”, writes Job, who was resolved to believe in the One and Only God. Praise God! Hallelujah!
Psalm 150, NIV
Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. 2Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. 3Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 4praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, 5praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
Psalm 150, The Message
1-6Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy house of worship, praise him under the open skies; Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his magnificent greatness; Praise with a blast on the trumpet, praise by strumming soft strings; Praise him with castanets and dance, praise him with banjo and flute; Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum, praise him with fiddles and mandolin. Let every living, breathing creature praise God! Hallelujah!
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
In everything, give God praise! Some psalms directed people to praise God. The final psalms of the book of Psalms were directed to Creator and Conductor, God! They begin and end with hallelujah, the Hebrew word for “Praise the Lord.”
Pure praise is an involuntary act from a soul who believes God and whose habit is praise for all things.
Max Lucado writes in reference to pure praise;
“The multitude, Matthew wrote, “were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing” (Mt 15:31).
Then Matthew, still the great economizer of words, gave us another phrase on which I wish he would have elaborated:
“They praised the God of Israel.”
I wonder how they did that? I feel more certain of what they didn’t do than of what they did do. I feel confident that they didn’t form a praise committee. I feel confident that they didn’t make any robes. I feel confident that they didn’t sit in rows and stare at the back of each other’s heads.
I doubt seriously if they wrote a creed on how they were to praise this God they had never before worshiped. I can’t picture them getting into an argument over technicalities. I doubt if they felt it had to be done indoors.
And I know they didn’t wait until the Sabbath to do it.
I can imagine throngs of people pushing and shoving. Wanting to get close. Not to request anything or demand anything, but just to say, “thank you.”
However they did it, they did it. And Jesus was touched, so touched that he insisted they stay for a meal before they left.
Worship is the “thank you” that refuses to be silenced.
We have tried to make a science out of worship. We can’t do that. We can’t do that any more than we can “sell love” or “negotiate peace.”
Worship is a voluntary act of gratitude offered by the saved to the Savior, by the healed to the Healer, and by the delivered to the Deliverer.” –Lucado, Encouraging Word Bible
Praise God from whom all blessings flow…praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Lord,
The last song in the book of psalms spoke to me with a crescendo of Your love, mercy, and grace. I hear the clanging of the cymbals and the last beat of the drums as the last Hallelujah was given in Psalm 150.
God, to you be all glory, honor, and praise. I will praise you as long as I have breath and tell of your wonderful, glorious, relentless, redeeming love. You are my Conductor and my focus is fixed on You.
As a worship leader, I would feel the shudder and hear the groan of God’s people when we would cheerily announce, “we’re going to sing a new song” to the Lord, today. Most people in a lot of churches like familiarity and sameness in singing a certain hymn on page 177. It is their blessed assurance. There are many who still like doing things the way we always done it. It is the rare person in the congregation who greet new songs with a broad smile and a twinkle in their eyes, ready to give the notes of a new melody their best. Okay, I know you might be thinking, but this isn’t what this psalm is saying when it says “sing to God a brand-new song.”But, isn’t it?
As we prepare our hearts for worship of Almighty God, Creator of all, who makes all things new with each new day of our lives; I think God desires and even longs for us to come into His new day seekingnewness. God is looking for the new with our best with greater opened hearts of surrender, greater humility in our thoughts of ourselves compared to Him, with even greater expectations of the hope that fills our souls because of HIS new fresh mercies given for this new day!
Singing to God a new song is His story of redemption that saves us from our old way of thinking, behaving, and praising!
The Apostle Paul writes of the newness we have in Jesus Christ! “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
God is continually renewing our hearts, minds and souls until we see Him face to face in glory! No one on earth has arrived at perfection. We are merely forgiven by a Perfect God who forgives and makes all things new in our lives. He does this daily, hourly, minute by minute when we come to Him and ask for help to walking humbly with God. Our relationship with God is made possible only by Jesus who paid our debt of sin and set us free to have this new relationship. God/Jesus/Holy Spirit—the fountain of Life who make all things new!
“And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”—Revelation 21:5
THIS IS OUR NEW SONG FROM THE COMPOSER OF NEW LIFE IN CHRIST!
Come, let us sing a new song…
Psalm 149, The Message
1-4Hallelujah! Sing to God a brand-new song, praise him in the company of all who love him. Let all Israel celebrate their Sovereign Creator, Zion’s children exult in their King. Let them praise his name in dance; strike up the band and make great music! And why?Because God delights in his people, adorns plain folk with salvation garlands!
5-9Let true lovers break out in praise, sing out from wherever they’re sitting, Shout the high praises of God, brandish their swords in the wild sword-dance— A portent of vengeance on the God-defying nations, a signal that punishment’s coming, Their kings chained and hauled off to jail, their leaders behind bars for good, The judgment on them carried out to the letter —and all who love God in the seat of honor! Hallelujah!
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
The end of the Song is only the beginning of Eternal Life with God. The Revelation of God to John describes the coming of a new heaven and a new earth after the old order passes away. What does that do to our old way of thinking, but we always done it this way? Well, this is where the new part comes in to dwell—we surrender all.
The Revelation promises that God will wipe away every tear and that death, sorrow, crying, and pain will no longer exist. Well, that’s new! We can’t wait to sing the verses composed by the angels of heaven who praise God continually and forever. Come on, don’t shudder, sing a new song with a new heart solely to the Lord. Don’t worry if you don’t hit all the notes, just sing. God will do the rest. He promised.
On earth, we will always be in skirmishes with the defeated Enemy of God who works overtime to feed our minds with his old tricks of lies and manipulation of our thought life. Jesus, however, has already won the war! Jesus is the Victor. Jesus is the resurrection and the Life. Jesus is the way to God, the Truth of God, offering the gift of Eternal Life from God. Hold on, get a grip on Truth. Surrender daily and be made new. Pray for our minds to be reset and refreshed daily so our thoughts are not swayed by the Loser.
God’s people are armed with the “sword of the Spirit”. Read all of Ephesians 6 for all the tools we need for overcoming the limited powers spewed by the Enemy against God’s kingdom. God will judge at the end of time—not our job. What we learn is this: God invites his people to join him in establishing his kingdom. Be reconciled to God! Be ambassadors of Christ who led others to reconcile with God! May this be the new song we sing with expectant Hope!
Lord,
Thank you for being our new song to sing each day. Cleanse our hearts, remove all that does not belong. Renew our minds, refresh our souls. Restore the joy of your salvation continuously at work within me. May your Holy Spirit guide us to all that is Truth. To you be all glory, honor, and praise.
It takes more than a song or a psalm to praise God. It takes our whole created being to stop all the noise around us, stop gazing backward to the past and cease overthinking what might happen with what we think we must do next in the future. Be still in His Holy Presence right now!
Our God created all and is in all. So, we must learn to daily put our focused attention on God, Our Father in heaven who created the world! Then He put mankind in the world He created to enjoy it. Pause to ponder this amazing truth: God is our Loving Fatherand at the same time He is God is Almighty and Powerful, the Creator.
There is nothing in our world that surprises Him for He knows all. He knew before we knew. He knows before succeeding generations know. We look over the conditions of the world, hearing of the consequences of war and the famine it causes and we shudder. We hear of impending elections of less than honorable leaders vying for office to appease those who support them with their wealth and our fear finds a way to make us anxious. We see and maybe feel for ourselves the abuse humans give to each other and we shrink in the darkness. We walk with the poor and needy daily and we wonder how to solve the problems of the brokenhearted.
When all these questions come to our small minds; we are perplexed and overwhelmed. We ask God for wisdom but is it His wisdom we seek; or are we seeking to tell God how to “fix” it? Could this be one of our flaws in what could be a beautiful, intimate, loving relationship with God? Could we be missing the main character of God the Father who also has all authority as God the Creator?
We must deal with the “tension” between the two titles and declare God has the One and Only God as we surrender all to His will. It’s hard to give up control; especially for those of us who like to have “all our ducks in a row” until we realize all the ducks were also created by God. We are not in charge. We are not to be praised. We AREcreated to worship the Only One who deserve all our praise and is indeed “in charge”. When we worship anyone or a thing/object/job/person; we will never be satisfied. Why? We were not created for this earth alone; we were created to be citizens of heaven. That is the real tension.
God knew from the genesis of His creation that a Plan to save us must be an integral part of our relationship with God that would last for an eternity. But it would come at a cost. God knew. Jesus knew. Holy Spirit knew. God in Three Persons created The Way to remove the imperfections of sin caused by the fall of Adam and Eve that separated us from a reconciled relationship with God. The Way included Sacrifice and Surrender to God in a tangible way with a cost. The cost was an unblemished, perfect first-born animal to be brought to designated priests as an act of surrender to God’s commands. The sacrifice came at a cost to the family. This obedient act by the head of each family covered and atoned for their sins.
Also from the beginning, God always knew that the best Way to remove sin once and for all would ultimately fall on the shoulders of Jesus (God in the flesh) as a final revelation of who God is while demonstrating His relentless, powerful, mighty love for each one of His created. The Way was foretold by the prophets of God so God’s people would look for The Messiah who would bear the burden of sin as a way to save all who believed from their sins. But most, even in the cruel world of sacrificing children to idols, could not wrap their minds around a person, who was God, Son of God, and Son of Man, who would come to earth and willing lay His life down to pay for all the sins of the world—once and for all—forever! But He did. John 3:16-19; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:8 to name a few proven statements of Truth.
Jesus is the Messiah proclaimed centuries before as the Redeemer to come who would remove from our sins that disconnected us from God, the Father. It is Jesus that our created hearts long for because God created the longing! Jesus is the God we seek and the Savior sent to save us. Get this!It is this SAME GOD who the Psalmist is praising!
God who created the world came into the world with all authority to save the world He created.Dear Friends, can we pause prayerfully to take this all in?
When we do take time to park, pray and praise; we realize who truly our God is! Our response then is to fall on our knees, bow before Him and praise Him! It is in these holy moments with God that we begin to realize the depth of His love. Father God, Almighty Creator God has a great desire for a relationship with the humans He made “in His own image”. That’s you! That’s me! This is all who believe Him! Hallelujah, what a Savior!To God be all glory, honor, and praise!
Forgive us, Lord, when our small thinking puts limits on who You are and what You can and will do!
Psalm 148, The Message
1-5 Hallelujah! Praise God from heaven, praise him from the mountaintops; Praise him, all you his angels, praise him, all you his warriors, Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, you morning stars; Praise him, high heaven, praise him, heavenly rain clouds; Praise, oh let them praise the name of God— he spoke the word, and there they were!
6 He set them in place from all time to eternity; He gave his orders, and that’s it!
7-12 Praise God from earth, you sea dragons, you fathomless ocean deeps; Fire and hail, snow and ice, hurricanes obeying his orders; Mountains and all hills, apple orchards and cedar forests; Wild beasts and herds of cattle, snakes, and birds in flight; Earth’s kings and all races, leaders and important people, Robust men and women in their prime, and yes, graybeards and little children.
13-14 Let them praise the name of God— it’s the only Name worth praising. His radiance exceeds anything in earth and sky; he’s built a monument—his very own people!
Praise from all who love God! Israel’s children, intimate friends of God. Hallelujah!
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
This is my Father’s world, And to my listening ears All nature sings, and round me rings The music of the spheres. This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas– His hand the wonders wrought.
2 This is my Father’s world: The birds their carols raise, The morning light, the lily white, Declare their Maker’s praise. This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair; In the rustling grass I hear Him pass, He speaks to me everywhere.
3 This is my Father’s world: O let me ne’er forget That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet. This is my Father’s world: Why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King: let the heavens ring! God reigns; let earth be glad!
Lord,
I just want what you want—to walk humbly with you in surrender to your Almighty Power, to Your Will and Your Way, to love you back in an intimate loving, growing relationship with you. I’m yours. And I’m listening! Lead me, Lord God!
No matter what anyone tries to show and tell; everything made by man has limits. Even men and women, God’s created humans, have limits to their abilities to live. But the saddest thing of all is, there are limits to what we believe. We must “see it to believe” and if we do not feel it, then it must not exist for us. These are the ideas of our own hearts and minds of small thinking. We have limits. God has no limits. Who do you believe?
This “hallelujah” psalm was probably written and sung later at special occasions to celebrate who God is and tells of His great works. It gives all God’s people then a reason to fear Him—be in awe of Him—which is healthy, right, and good. We fear the God who has no limits because of His great power and authority who has no limits in His love, faithfulness and compassion for us! There is no one like our God. The writer is determined that all who praise God understands our Limitless God!
God is a sure thing who can be trusted to do what He says. God is proven to be truth. God’s Word does not contradict itself; but proves from Genesis to Revelation that God was, is, and always will be God! When the world around us seems to crumble and the people pose threats to destroy us with their “puny muscles” of limited power, driven by evil, One Person remains—God. God has and never will give us authority over all He has created. God, hallelujah, is a sure thing! Seek God and He will provide all we truly need—Him.
Psalm 147, The Message
Hallelujah! It’s a good thing to sing praise to our God; praise is beautiful, praise is fitting.
2-6 God’s the one who rebuilds Jerusalem, who regathers Israel’s scattered exiles. He heals the heartbroken and bandages their wounds. He counts the stars and assigns each a name. Our Lord is great, with limitless strength; we’ll never comprehend what he knows and does. God puts the fallen on their feet again and pushes the wicked into the ditch.
7-11 Sing to God a thanksgiving hymn, play music on your instruments to God, Who fills the sky with clouds, preparing rain for the earth, Then turning the mountains green with grass, feeding both cattle and crows. He’s not impressed with horsepower; the size of our muscles means little to him. Those who fear God get God’s attention; they can depend on his strength.
12-18 Jerusalem, worship God! Zion, praise your God! He made your city secure, he blessed your children among you. He keeps the peace at your borders, he puts the best bread on your tables. He launches his promises earthward— how swift and sure they come! He spreads snow like a white fleece, he scatters frost like ashes, He broadcasts hail like birdseed— who can survive his winter? Then he gives the command and it all melts; he breathes on winter—suddenly it’s spring!
19-20 He speaks the same way to Jacob, speaks words that work to Israel. He never did this to the other nations; they never heard such commands. Hallelujah!
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
Praise God with all that is within us! Pray/communicate with God without stopping! Worries fade and anxieties disappear when we stand in awe of our limitless God with simple trust! Depend on God’s love that never quits or gives up on us but always and forever loves us. God never changes in His love for us—it’s not in His character. God is love. “To know God is to know Love”, writes John who teaches us what real, limitless Love is. God created Love and is Love. (1 John 4)
Matthew meticulously recorded Jesus, who is God in flesh and came to earth to seek and to save the lost without Him. Jesus clarified who God is with a message to release our burdens of worries we have in our lives. Jesus is speaking on a mountain top to thousands who were drawn to the Truth—Who is the Person of Jesus. Jesus taught many instances of “blessed assurances” but these “do not worry” words hit us where we live most often which threatens our faith of God in whom our surety and confidence derives. Worry slanders the promises of God which is where the Enemy wants us to reside. So, Jesus warns lovingly,
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
What God repeats we must listen to with hearts ready to obey. “Do not worry”, repeated three times for students who want to learn to be like Jesus.
Why worry when it is God who rescues and save us from our enemies and from ourselves? The psalm ends with God’s most unique gift to Israel: his redemptive word. God makes know His Plan of Salvation. His will done. “God’s the one who rebuilds Jerusalem, who regathers Israel’s scattered exiles. He heals the heartbroken and bandages their wounds. He counts the stars and assigns each a name. Our Lord is great, with limitless strength; we’ll never comprehend what he knows and does.” (Verses 2-6)
Believe in Jesus and be saved forever. Jesus is the Way to God. Trust in God who rebuilds, regathers, heals, bandages, and sent His Son to save us once and for all. God is the One we stand in awesome, healthy fear just because He is God who never fails in His love for us. God is our sure thing in a troublesome world of lies and unbelief. God is unlimited in Love, power, strength, mercy, and grace.
To GOD be all the glory, honor, and praise! Hallelujah!
Lord,
I love you back with all my heart, mind, and soul. I stand in awe of your holy Presence even as I write this to publish so others will know you, seek you, and be found by you, too. I bow before you as you cleanse my heart, renew my mind, refresh my soul, and restore the joy of your salvation continuously at work within me. You are God and You are Limitless! I’m yours. I’m listening.
I am a list maker…even in retirement from my secular work. For me, what doesn’t get listed, doesn’t get done. It is also very rewarding for me to check that item off the list when it is accomplished. The list has a progression of priorities. One task cannot happen until another task is completed. And so life goes with my lists guiding my behavior and productivity.
LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE #6: Keep a Close Check on Yourself
